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Chelmsford board holds hearing on homeless stay limits

By Alana Melanson, amelanson@lowellsun.com

Updated:
12/07/2015 11:12:16 PM EST

CHELMSFORD -- The Board of Health insists its new regulations limiting the stay of homeless families at hotels and motels is rooted in doing what's best for them, but some are concerned the rules will push families out of town and open Chelmsford to legal battles.

The board approved the regulations, which limit stays based on the number of people, room size and available amenities, in August. According to the board, the intention is to compel the state to put the families in better housing situations that are more appropriate to their needs.

"We want what's best for these citizens," Board of Health Clerk Annmarie Roark said during a Monday night public hearing. "We want the state to take responsibility for these people and not just put them in hotels and ignore them."

The regulations were originally set to become effective Jan. 1, but last month the board voted to delay implementation until July 1 for families with children in Chelmsford Public Schools. The vote was made at the request of the School Committee, which did not want to see enrolled children be uprooted before the end of the school year.

Andrew Webman, a staff attorney with the Northeast Justice Center in Lowell, said he agrees the facilities provided are not ideal for the homeless families, but that the regulations as they stand are too restrictive. He said he expects the regulations will be challenged under the Fair Housing Act or state anti-discrimination law because they effectively discriminate against people with children.

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"If communities around the state decide to adopt similar regulations, there simply will be no room for these families to go to," he said.

Webman said more than half of the families that apply for emergency assistance don't get as far as receiving hotel accommodations due to rigorous screening. The hurdles to get shelter are already enormous without limiting the places where they can stay, he said.

Many of the homeless families housed in Chelmsford hotels are from the area, work here and their children go to school here, Webman said. If they lose their housing in the area, they could also lose their jobs, exacerbating the problem, he said.

Roark said she doesn't believe it's discriminatory or that there will be legal claims as a result. She said it's the board's obligation to protect the families. Roark said the biggest concern is the duration of the stay, which can last several months to more than a year.

Resident Glenn Diggs said he disagrees with the logic behind the regulations, and believes that trying to make the state see the error of its ways is futile. He said the rules will force the homeless families out of town and their children out of a good school system.

Roark said the intention is not to force the families out of Chelmsford, but into more suitable housing.

"But the state doesn't have anything more suitable, so you are forcing them out of Chelmsford into hopefully something better than calling up Home Depot and saying, 'Save all those refrigerator cartons and washer and dryer cartons because we going to make three-bedroom homes for these people,'" Diggs said.

Health Director Richard Day said some hotels in town do have more adequate amenities but the state does not pay to place people there, opting instead for the cheapest rooms available. Even then, a placement is a minimum of $1,500 per month, he said -- money that could perhaps be used instead to get an apartment. Day said the intention is to try to get the state to make appropriate decisions in the original placement of these families to give them the space and amenities they need for an extended period of time.

"If the state of Massachusetts wants to take the line that it's OK to permanently put them in a substandard situation, well then do it. Say it. Don't call it an emergency, don't dance around it, don't play your games," Day said.

Board of Health Chairman Eric Kaplan, a doctor with an office in Lowell, gave an example of a couple and their five children that were stuck in two small adjoining rooms for a year, with only a microwave and an illegal hot plate to cook with. The experience gave the children psychological and emotional trauma, he said.

The largest rooms at the Best Western are only 299 square feet, Roark said, and the regulations as they stand would prevent the hotel that currently houses the most homeless families in town from continuing to do so. She acknowledged the regulations need to be amended to work with the space available.

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